Migrants from Mexico and Guatemala are apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers after crossing a section of border wall into the U.S. on Jan. 4, 2025 in Ruby, Arizona. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Tennessee is set to create an immigration enforcement division that would be exempt from the state’s Public Records Act.
The Senate is expected to pass the immigration measure Wednesday at President Donald Trump’s behest, with a little-known amendment that says the Department of Safety and Homeland Security may keep any records collected or received by the division or chief immigration enforcement officer confidential. That wouldn’t be limited to sensitive or confidential information it receives from a federal, local or state entity, according to an amendment attached to the immigration enforcement bill.
Sen. Bo Watson, chairman of the finance committee, said Wednesday the Department of Safety sought confidentiality to make the immigration enforcement division “consistent” with current law in the department.
“It’s not new,” said Watson, a Hixson Republican.
The confidentiality provision was barely noticed, though, when it was attached to the main bill, which sets up a $5 million fund for immigration enforcement training and nearly $500,000 for four staff members within the Department of Safety, including an immigration czar to work with federal authorities.
Sen. Todd Gardenhire, a critic of the immigration bill, said he was unaware information within the division would be secret. The Chattanooga Republican said the measure could be amended later to specify matters that could be confidential without affecting the entire division.
“I don’t think any agency or governmental entity ought to be exempt from the open records (act) unless it specifies exactly what it is, not just open-ended,” Gardenhire said.
He added that the department might not have thought about the ramifications, “or maybe they did.”
Democratic Sen. London Lamar of Memphis said she believes the Department of Safety could be trying to conceal the identity of officers involved in immigration enforcement because they could be involved in “unethical practices in trying to execute some of the goals of this deportation office.”
Under current law, ongoing criminal investigations are exempt from the Public Records Act, along with numerous other exemptions.
Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said the bill should be changed to make it more narrow, instead of giving the department full confidentiality.
In addition to creating the immigration enforcement division, the bill enables the state attorney general to bring charges against local government officials who support sanctuary city policies. Tennessee law prohibits sanctuary cities, a situation in which local governments would refuse to cooperate with federal agencies to enforce immigration law. Critics of the bill said the law allows locally elected officials to have “absolute immunity” when they vote.
The measure also requires the state to put markings on the driver’s licenses of immigrants who don’t have citizenship status.
“The Nazi Germans did this to the Jews,” said Democratic Sen. Charlane Oliver of Nashville, referring to the Star of David sewn into clothing.
An amendment to alter that requirement failed on the Senate floor.
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